The Death Master File (“DMF”) maintained by the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) is available from the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service (“NTIS”). Currently, the DMF contains over 65 million records of deaths that have been reported to SSA. This file contains the following information on each decedent, if the data are available to the SSA: social security number, name, date of birth, date of death, state or country of residence, ZIP code of last residence, and ZIP code of a lump sum payment made at death. However, the SSA does not have a death record for all persons. Therefore, SSA does not guarantee the veracity of the file. Thus, the absence of a particular person is not proof this person is alive.
However, many companies and other entities need as much data about decedents as they can obtain. Also, the veracity and quick availability of the obtained data is also crucial for many purposes.